45 Chapter 44

-[Hugo Strange]-

Sitting in his office, he looked through the psychological reports of the inmates. He already knew them by heart but he had to keep appearances.

He had smuggled in the equipment that the ice villains would use to stage their jailbreak as well as turned a few of the guards to his side.

It was only a matter of time until the plan began and Waller would be out of the picture, leaving him in control.

'The Light would be quite pleased.' He thought in satisfaction.

"You would think that." An amused voice said from behind him, causing him to sharply turn in shock.

Leaning on the window was a young man with pink spiky hair in an undercut. His brown eyes showed amusement and the strange markings on his face made him look all the more frightening.

"Who are you?!" Hugo asked with caution.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The man said as he disappeared in a burst of smoke, appearing directly in front of Hugo.

The psychiatrist flinched, moving away in surprise and a good amount of fear.

"Amuse me human. You risk your life and being just to become a puppet in someone else's show…why?" The pink haired man said as Hugo suddenly found himself standing in front of his desk and the man in his seat.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Hugo said, gulping in fear.

'How?! What just happened?!' Hugo thought in shock. 'Who is this guy?!'

"Do you really want the answer to that?" The man asked, his voice taking a tone that promised pain and suffering.

Hugo gulped as he took a step back. "Are you r-"

"Reading your mind?" The man finished, the fear in Hugo rising even more.

"You mortals are just so predictable. Let me introduce myself. I am Ryomen Sukuna." The man said, waving his hand in front of him as a large laceration formed on Hugo's chest, blood splashing out like a fountain.

"Ackkk!" He barely had time to scream in pain as the attack was too sudden.

Falling back to the floor as he bled out, Hugo looked at Sukuna in pure unadulterated fear. "Please! Please!"

The man didn't listen, snapping his fingers. Hugo his body getting ripped apart at once, darkness taking over him as he died…

His eyes shot wide open in fear as he pushed himself off the floor. The large wound on his chest as well as the blood was nowhere to be found.

"Welcome back." The voice that brought fear into his heart said, causing him to look at Sukuna who sat at the desk, staring down at him.

Looking behind him, he froze as he saw a dead body laying on the floor. What froze him was that the dead man was…himself.

"H-h-how?" He stuttered out.

Sukuna's smile stretched into a malicious grin. "It's quite simple. I brought you back so we could have this conversation. Perhap-"

"Please! What do yo- Aaahhhh!!!" Hugo screamed in terror as he felt himself get painfully obliterated in an instant.

The next second, his eyes opened, a shocked gasp leaving his mouth. He immediately turned behind him to see another body accompanying the first one, this one being burnt to a crisp.

He turned back to Sukuna whose eyes held a hint of annoyance.

"Don't interrupt me again." Sukuna warned, causing him to silently and fearfully nod.

"Let's get rid of those now, shall we? We have a long discussion ahead of us." Sukuna said, the malicious grin returning as a laceration appeared on his throat, killing him instantly.

•••

He didn't know how much time passed. No matter how careful he was to avoid angering what seemed to be a divine entity in human flesh, it didn't stop Sukuna from killing him.

He lost track of how many times he died and was brought back only to be killed moments later. He was killed for even the tiniest of things, whether he caused it or not.

Sukuna once killed him because the chair was uncomfortable, reviving him only to kill him again for not agreeing fast enough.

He didn't know how many deaths ago that was. The constant death was taking a toll on his mind, the pain each time was more excruciating than the last.

Why wouldn't he just leave him alone? What was the point in all this? Why?

He would never find the answer as Sukuna killed him once again for not paying attention.

-[Dante]-

Hiding in camouflage mode in the corner of Strange's office, he looked at the man who was slumped and staring blankly into space, drool leaking from his mouth.

He had put him in a psychic loop that would keep repeating itself. What was days in his mind had only been a few minutes in real life.

As much as he didn't like Waller, it was better than having the Light gain control of the prison. If Waller herself somehow decided to join them, he could always make another trip back here.

He wasn't worried about leaving a psychic imprint in Strange's mind. Even before his evolution, his psychic abilities trumped Manhunter and M'gann. His evolution only further widened the gap.

He'd done some tampering with Waller as well, making sure that she would conceal the fact that Strange was incapacitated.

Placing a few suggestions in one of the guards' minds, the man was on his way to Waller's office to expose Strange's operation.

Dante could see through the walls where the man was already in front of Waller's office, ready to confess.

'That should solve this.' He thought as he sank back into the ground.

As much as he wanted to expose the androids impersonating Ivo and Sportsmaster, he wanted to allow the Light to believe that their cover was sake.

He had dragged on this Red Arrow business for too long.

-[Japan]-

Pulling the string of her bow, she fired an explosive arrow at the ogre that ran towards her. It stunned it momentarily, allowing Miss Martian to telekinetically chuck a bolder at it.

As she fired another explosive arrow, she heard Zatanna chant something, the smoke from the explosion thickening to bind the ogre.

The other ogre leaped into the air, attempting to smash Zatanna into paste with its club only for the girl in question to chant once again.

A blue shield appeared around her, shaking as the weapon smashed into it. Miss Martian's telekinesis blasted the ogre away, sending it crashing into the building by the side.

"Don't these things take a hint?!" Artemis exclaimed in frustration.

No matter how much they attack these things, they barely did any damage to them. They had resorted to attempted to restrain them.

Even that was proving to be challenging.

"I'm not sure they're good at thinking." Zatanna muttered.

The restrained ogre was violently struggling to get free. The other one leaped out of the rubble, rushing straight towards them.

"Distract them for me." Zatanna said, taking a step back as she began a particularly long chant.

Fortunately these ogres weren't bright so they were able to separate them earlier.

The creature snarled at them as another arrow exploded into its face, followed by some debris thrown by Miss Martian.

They barraged it with attacks, keeping it away from Zatanna who finally finished her chant.

The smoke binding the other ogre dissipated but before they could worry about it attacking them, it rushed to its fellow ogre launching an attack.

Suddenly the tables had turned as the two were now pummeling each other, ignoring the three girls.

Miss Martian and Artemis turned to Zatanna. "Why didn't you do that earlier?" Artemis asked.

"Because it takes a lot of my magic and I can't cast it without focusing." Zatanna said, as they noticed that she was looking particularly tired after that spell.

"How long do you think until they stop?" Miss Martian asked.

"They haven't taken any damage yet so I'd say we'll be here for a while." Zatanna retorted with a slight pant.