Truth and Failure

Nicholas was once again back at the theater. This time, instead of waiting for someone, however, he is watching through the eyes of his crows. Amanda Waller was threatening to shoot someone if they didn't explain to her what happened. Lex Luther was sitting at his desk, aware that Nicholas collected what was owed and then some. Lex was reevaluating the situation.

Maze was closing in on Paige's apartment. Nicholas was slightly curious how Maze would handle Emmylou or if she could even. The most exciting scene was what was happening at GCPD. It was a full-blown siege, and the cops were losing.

...

Detective Renee Montoya was not sure how this happened. It started just like any other day. The other members of her team; Harvey Bullock and Ellen Yin, and herself were going over the destruction at the Iceberg Lounge. Ellen had discovered that among the unrecognizable bodies, two things stood out. First, they were all male. Second, Candy and Tracey Buxton were both confirmed to have been by Penguin's side during the attack, but their bodies weren't among the others.

Bullock suggested that if they weren't found dead or at all, then it was possible that they were alive and being held somewhere. Montoya began considering the idea that the murders were mearly a distraction to hide the abductions. She sent a message to Commissioner Gordon. That was when the alarms started going off, as well as the gun fire.

The screaming of their fellow officers caused them to realize they were under attack. Bullock pulled out a shotgun he kept by his desk, while she and Yin only had their pistols. They needed to make their way to the armory for specialized weapons. Montoya opened the door, only for a moment later, to have it be ripped from its hinges by some huge samurai. The samurai had been dead set on his task and didn't even notice the door. The samurai already turned a corner, so they couldn't do anything but press on. All the direct routes were cut off, so they went for the lobby route. They arrived just in time to see Batman and other supers burst in and help.

With the supers there, Montoya felt safe. She and Yin made a very serious mistake by holstering their weapons. They heard a muffled roar, and then Bullock went flying to the other side of the lobby. Then suddenly, a metal gauntlet was holding her, and some kind of monster with a melted face had Yin.

The Green Lantern and Wonder Woman both attempted to free them, but it was too late. A black fog had engulfed the attackers and both Montoya and Yin.

...

Commissioner Gordon was surveying the damage. The medical workers had told him there had been many injuries, all of them severe, and some career ending. However, with some luck, they would survive and recover.

The total dead were three officers and two missing. Batman approached and said, "Jim, how does it look? Gordon replied, "It's a mess, three confirmed dead, Detective Bullock will be in a full body cast for the next six months and he's one of the luckier ones, and Detectives Montoya and Yin are missing. What I don't understand, is why?"

It was a valid question. Not even the Joker wouldn't attack the GCPD without a reason, granted it was either flimsy or twisted, but there was still a reason.

A blonde guy in a trench coat approached and asked, "Excuse me, Commissioner? The two missing detectives, do they share an office?" Batman introduced him as John Constantine, Gordon nodded and said, "Yes, they plus detective Bullock shared the same office and were in charge of organized crimes, and recently major crimes as well."

Constantine turned to Batman and said, "We should check that office." The three of them headed for it. When they got there, they found it in ruins.

Everything was smashed into small splinters, papers shredded, and even random objects were burned. Gordon recognized that this was something somebody did when they wanted to keep important evidence from being shared.

Gordon had his reason for why the GCPD was attacked. Batman asked, "What were they working on?" Gordon replied, "They were going over the attack on the Iceberg Lounge. In fact, right before the attack, Montoya sent me a message saying that they might have made a breakthrough."

Constantine added, "If they did, it must have been significant. Office destroyed and witnesses silenced. Any chance of figuring out what it was?"

Gordon answered, "Bullock might be able to tell us, but it's going to be a week at least before he can talk if we're lucky. *sigh* If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to send my daughter a message to let her know I'm alright."

Batman suddenly got a look. Then he said, "Jim, there is something I need to tell you." Gordon didn't know what Batman was going to say, but he knew he would hate it.

...

Batman was standing in front of an apartment complex. It was Selina's last known location. With him was John Constantine, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Nightwing, and Harold. The others went to investigate the theater location.

John spoke first, saying, "So, any idea which apartment was the final destination?" Batman replayed, "Most are unoccupied, because of that only one name is worth mentioning. Paige Munroe, aka Calendar Girl."

Then, off to the side, they heard an irritated voice say, "John Constantine, I should've known you would be involved in this mess!" John sighed and then said, "Lucifer Morningstar, look, can we put the arguments on hold until we deal with the current problem."

Batman turned to see a man in a black suit. Evidently, this man was the devil. Lucifer responded, "Look Johnny, I lost contact with Maze a few hours ago, and you lot are laughably unprepared for what's up there." Constantine rolled his eyes, then he said, "If you're that concerned, then feel free to follow us."

The sound of a crow caused Batman to become aware that no one was moving. Not wanting to waste any more time, Constantine went on ahead. Batman could feel something was off. They didn't bother knocking. They just entered. There was no one in the room, Batman was beginning to believe this was a dead end until he saw the tape with his name on it.

Batman began to play it, suddenly a wall moved to reveal a screen. There were three individuals visible, Batman recognized two, Paige Munroe and Emmylou Brown. The third was that the woman was unconscious and chained to a chair. He didn't recognize her, but he got the name when he heard Lucifer say, "Maze..."

Paige was the one talking. She revealed a great deal about the target, and yet she didn't reveal anything they didn't already know. He didn't know why she was rambling, then it hit him, Paige was stalling. As if predicting his thoughts, Paige then said, "I'm sure by now Batman you've realized I'm stalling you, why? Because the one you're looking for is at the theater, dealing with the ones you sent. Oh, by the way, I hope you weren't relying on Harold's ability. For the next five hours, his abilities will be limited to about three meters. Goodbye." She smiled then. The video ended.

Harold immediately tried to use his powers, only for room to start glowing. Special runes had been placed to limit Harold's power. Jessica immediately put everyone in a bubble, and they blasted out of the apartment. Batman's mind raced through what he knew and what he could've missed. They arrived at the theater. For some reason, Constantine had Jessica set the down in front of the building. Before anyone could ask why, Constantine pointed to a murder of crows. The birds were just watching them, and Batman remembered the crow by the apartment. Batman then stated, "I take it to mean those crows are the lookouts." Constantine nodded. They never had the element of surprise. Which means there was probably a surprise waiting for them inside.

Realizing there was no chance for surprise, they entered. Upon entering, they all heard what sounded like carnival music, and then something singing, "🎶 Happy, Happy, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Happy, Happy, Halloween, Silver Shamrock! 🎶"

As they entered the main stage, they found Beast Boy and Robin unconscious. No sign of Raven, Starfire, or Donna Troy. However, the target they were looking for was sitting on the stage, holding a broad ax.

...

Nicholas was sitting on the stage, Raven and Starfire had both given themselves to him, albeit for completely different reasons. Donna Troy went down swinging, Beast Boy and Robin tried to help, but in all honesty, they lost the moment Raven chose to be selfish, and Starfire misunderstood what was happening.

Now Batman was here with some real heavy hitters. Honestly, he would love to have Wonder Woman and Jessica Cruz in his collection. However, with the Litch approaching, he wasn't sure he had the time.

Batman yelled, "Where are they!?" He was approaching with clear intent of not asking nicely a second time. The others were spreading out, obviously an attempt to keep him from escaping. Nicholas shrugged and said, "Unfortunately, I can't answer until the Lich has been dealt with."

It was clearly not the answer Batman wanted, but Constantine asked, "Lich? What Lich?" Nicholas responded, "I'm sure you've heard that song coming in. That was a signal that the newest killer didn't want to wait. Now, it will either burst in here trying to establish itself as the one in charge by killing everyone, or it will leave to build an undead army."

Suddenly the door opened, and a voice said, "You have no idea how tempting it was to do that second option." A floating, rotting, corpse entered. It didn't bother to say anything else. It just started casting spells.

Suddenly the heroes had switched their focus to the Lich. Even Lucifer was going after it.

So, when the Lich knocked Wonder Woman into Jessica Cruz, and they both landed in front Nicholas, no one spared a thought about the implications. With Diana and Jessica now safely in his collection, Nicholas felt there was no need to stick around. Plus, this would be a good chance to see what would happen to a killer he had no control over, if he severed the connection.

With the ax in hand, he brought it down on the anchor. Neither the Lich nor the others noticed. Nicholas could feel Mary Dahl, or Baby Doll as she was formally known get pulled into his realm. Then the fog came for him, and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

...

A smoldering corpse that was the Lich, lay in front of him. John Constantine knew this thing was meant to be nothing more than a distraction, but one that could've been fatal if left unattended. John thought the man was foolish for wasting such a powerful tool. He turned to the stage expecting the man to be gone.

It took only a moment for all of them to notice that Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern were also gone. Bats pulled out a device, it was a tracker. It was tied to a beacon that Wonder Woman had hidden on herself. It was even enchanted to work even with interdimensional interference.

They would be able to follow it to whatever pocket dimension he was hiding in. The device activated, but it was being inconsistent. As if the dimension was mobile. Then John heard Lucifer say, "I figured you had a plan from the way you were acting, but it seems my first assumption was correct." It was true that they had a plan. They came up with it after they left the police station. Wonder Woman volunteered for the tracker, and once they had the location, they would have the Harold open a portal and they would swoop in and save everyone.

Everyone was looking at Lucifer now, then he continued, "First let me clear two misconceptions you clearly have. The first one is that this guy was not some mortal twit who stumbled upon some ancient entity, he is someone who ate said entity. The second on is that the man was not originally from here, so, when his anchor was destroyed, his realm took anything it was attached to with it."

John realizing his mistake turned to see the shattered remains of the anchor. Half of it had already turned to dust. He immediately cast a spell, encasing and preserving what was left. The remaining pieces began to press together and was surrounded by a bubble.

Just then the tracker lost the signal. Batman asked, "What went wrong?" John answered, "Technically, nothing. However, a great deal of prep work and calculations will be needed if we want to mount a rescue. Even if the Harold's power wasn't sealed, he wouldn't have the juice necessary to reach are destination, especially since with every passing moment it gets farther and farther away."

John explained what Lucifer had just said, then he told them what they would need; information, ingredients, and a place to store the anchor remains. Batman asked, "If he was some sort of interdimensional collector, then why was his behavior so juvenile?"

Lucifer responded, "If I had to hazard a guess, it's because he is still new at this. He took my sister, Ramiel, an angel, and he took Maze, a demon, probably to determine how effective his power is on them." John then added, "Which means we will still have a chance, the real problem is time, there is a very real possibility it's moving at a different rate. So, every second we waste is more time they spend in his care."

Nightwing asked, "Alright, so what are we going to do with that? Just put it in a safe until we need it?" John answered, "Sadly no, we need to place it in a place with an uninterrupted flow of magic, and whose residents are okay with the risks if my spell fails."

John then explained that in a best-case scenario a portal to the target dimension would open, and a worst-case scenario was the entire location and any unfortunate soul in the area being dragged to that dimension. There was also the possibility that they would simply lose the link forever. Batman then said, "I'll have Hawkgirl take it to Themyscira, I'm sure they will cooperate in what ways they can." John added, "Let's not waste any more time, we got a lot of work to do."