Chapter 10: Adjusting

Word Count : 7913

Waste of time. That was what this mission was, plain and simple. There was nothing of value to be gained here, and the criminals were already for the most part neutralized. Still, since his new teammates had dragged him out here, he might as well do something productive. So he brought up his new Benelli M3 and opened fire, taking out three thugs before the rest chose to take cover. That only provided Krieg with the opportunity to rush their position as their gunfire came to a stop. He glided right over the crates they were hiding behind and slammed boot first into one of them before swinging his shotgun like a club and knocking out a second with a hit to the head. The third tried to back up, but he received a kick between the legs and an elbow to the face.

Feeling that he had done his good deed for the day, he observed dispassionately as their objective, the rogue hero Speedy, fired an arrow at the mob boss known as Brick. Naturally, the enormous man was not intimidated by the attack, and did not even try to dodge it. His mistake, as when the arrow hit, it released some form of red bio-foam that covered his entire body, completely immobilizing him. So, with the threat finally neutralized, Krieg leisurely strolled over to collect his teammates, hoping all the way that Speedy had declined the offer. Krieg had learned much later after the Cadmus incident that the archer had defected from the Justice League, and now some people on his team wanted to recruit him.

Krieg supposed, that as a ruthless soldier raised on discipline, he should harbor strong ill feelings for Speedy for abandoning his duty to go solo. But considering that he defected from the Justice League, a group that placed Krieg on a team he would much rather kill than cooperate with, he just could not find the motivation to give a damn. He found the group gathered together up on a crate, and he quickly joined them.

"Well, has he declined yet?" he asked in a bored tone, just wishing to get this over with.

"Declined? He hasn't even given us an answer yet," Robin answered. Well, that was a slight nuisance. It would seem that Krieg would have speed things along, so he turned fully to face the hotheaded archer as he spoke.

"Well then, could you please be quick about declining the offer. I have more productive ventures that needs my attention," 'Like patrolling Los Angeles, finishing my next batch of explosives, cleaning my weapons, praying, make some bean soup. Essentially anything other than this useless venture,' Krieg added to himself mentally. In response, Speedy narrowed his eyes at Krieg, clearly finding issue with something.

"You don't want me on the team," he stated. Not asked, stated. He was of course completely right in his deduction.

"I already have to contend with an unstable xeno clone and a xeno psyker, I do not need your incompetence further jeopardizing the effectiveness of this already fragile team," Krieg revealed, uncaring about who he may have just hurt or insulted. If someone could not stand to hear the truth, then it was their problem and not his. As expected, Speedy bristled at the insult towards his skills.

"Oh yeah? We'll see how incompetent I am when I beat you up!" he snarled out as he stepped towards Krieg. Faster than he could react, Krieg had raised his shotgun and was aiming it straight at his face. Speedy instantly froze up in shock, having obviously not expected such a reaction.

"It is only loaded with rubber bullets, but they can be quite deadly if fired at this distance," Krieg remarked coldly, finger itching to pull the trigger. Unfortunately, he was not given the chance to do so as Aqualad stepped in and with a firm hold on Krieg's shotgun, pushed it aside.

"We are here as friends, Krieg, not enemies," he stated with authority. While Krieg did not appreciate the abhuman ordering him about, he relented this time. Speedy was irrelevant in the long run anyway. An awkward silence descended over the group, as none was sure how to proceed. Eventually, Robin tried breaking it

"Sooo… Speedy, you in?" he asked. Maybe not the best thing to ask after what just happened, but it worked to get the conversation rolling.

"Pass," Speedy predictably answered as he began walking away, "I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter and a clubhouse to hang out with the other kids," Funny, Krieg had similar thoughts when he was forced to join, "Your Junior Justice League is a joke, something to keep you busy, and in your place," with that said, Speedy walked away, hopefully going somewhere far away so that Krieg would never have to see him again. An uncomfortable silence came over the team, the three sidekicks feeling both hurt and thoughtful by Speedy's words.

"Well, he declined. Mission's over. I will be heading back to Los Angeles now," Krieg announced nonchalantly as he jumped off the crate and walked away. The Justice League had at first wanted to place him in the Cave as well, but he had flat out refused. He had argued that he already had a fully functioning base set up on his home turf, and that relocating him would be a waste of resources. Thankfully, they had backed off. But in truth, the greatest reason for his unwillingness to switch bases was because living at the Cave would mean living with the two xenos. And that was not something he could tolerate.

After the failed recruitment attempt of Speedy, Krieg had assumed there would be a lull in activity from the team, thereby giving him more time to himself. But alas, that would not be as already the next day did he receive a call from the Cave, alerting him that the team required his presence. So he geared up fully for combat and rushed to the nearest zeta tube.

"Recognized. Krieg, B04," but in all honesty, he would probably never get used to that computer voice announcing one's arrival. It was impractical, essentially telegraphing to any possible intruders that reinforcements had arrived. Krieg found Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian already present, strangely enough only dressed in civilian clothes and not in their combat uniforms, so he strode over to them and gave a military salute.

"What's the situation?" he asked, ready for battle. Though as it turned out, his readiness was not required in the least.

"There's no situation to worry about, Krieg. We have simply gathered the team in the hopes that Red Tornado will have a mission for us," Aqualad said. Krieg found his eyebrows furrowing together under his gasmask.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility, not Red Tornado's," Krieg stated, confused as to how they could have mixed that up. Aqualad smiled as he calmly answered Krieg.

"We know that, but we are hoping that Red Tornado will make an exception for us," that had to be one of the most stupid logics he had ever heard. Make exceptions? Where in the name of the Warp did they get that idea from? If the team was to be given a mission, then it would come from Batman.

"Recognized. Robin, B01. Kid Flash, B03," that annoying computer voice suddenly announced, just as the two aforementioned heroes materialized inside the tubes and rushed over to join the team.

"Did you ask him?" Robin asked excitedly.

"What did he say?" Kid Flash added a second later with equal amount of enthusiasm.

"He's arriving now," Aqualad answered, trying to both sound and appear calm. Krieg had to admit, he was doing a fine job of that.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash exclaimed as he ran towards the entrance of the Cave, prompting Krieg to slowly shake his head in exasperation.

"This is a waste of time," he announced, but no one listened to him as they rushed after Kid Flash. So it was with great reluctance that Krieg hurried after his team, mentally gagging at having to refer to them as 'his' team. He caught up with them just as Red Tornado landed.

"Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the Cave?" the android inquired. Would have most likely sounded curious if his voice could change beyond that mechanical monotone it always used.

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad admitted, taking the role of the group's spokesman.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado answered without missing a beat. Krieg kept quiet, but he shot Aqualad a look that practically said "I told you so". Aqualad wisely chose to ignore him.

"But it's been over a week and nothing…" Robin tried to protest, but was silenced by Red Tornado.

"You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company," the android interjected. Krieg almost felt like scoffing. As if he would ever learn to enjoy the company of a mutant, an abhuman and two xenos. Robin he could tolerate on the simple basis that he was human, but that was it. He neither enjoyed nor appreciated the members of this team.

"This team is not a social club," Aqualad stated a bit harshly. From what Krieg could gather, the abhuman was drawing parallels to what Speedy told them earlier.

"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the Cave?" having said his piece, Red Tornado strode right past them and entered the base. His departure left five disgruntled young teens standing at the doorway, the sixth one could not possibly care less about what had just transpired.

"Keep busy," Kid Flash remarked as he lightly bumped Robin's shoulder.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Robin in turn questioned in outrage. Idiots. Had they no patience? They would receive a mission whenever their superiors felt the need to give them one.

"Oh, I'll find out," Miss Martian suddenly announced. 'Wait, what?' was the dominant thought in Krieg's mind. Was that treacherous xeno psyker planning to read Red Tornado's mind?

"I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine. Inorganic, I cannot read his mind," guess she really was trying to. And they were asking themselves why they were not receiving a mission. With someone like Miss Martian on their time, it would be a miracle if they were ever given an assignment.

"Nice try though. So, you know what I'm thinking right now?" and of course there was that damnable mutant Kid Flash. By the Emperor's light, did he not have any standards? Trying to befriend a xeno like her, it was just disgusting.

"We all know what you're thinking now," Robin remarked as he elbowed the speedster in the back. That was inaccurate, Krieg did not know what the speedster was thinking. And to be honest, he did not want to know.

"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad said bitterly, clearly not pleased by the recent turn of events.

"Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides," Miss Martian announced. That alone made Krieg want to run back to Los Angeles, at least there he would not be forced to endure xenos.

"Don't look at me," Superboy announced. 'Wasn't planning to,' Krieg thought to himself.

"Well, you five can inspect the base if you like without me. Since there was no reason for my presence here, I will be heading back to Los Angeles," he called over his shoulder as he began walking away. He did not get far.

"Team building. We'll all go," Aqualad ordered firmly. Now in that moment, Krieg felt an overwhelming urge to tell in explicit detail just where that abhuman could place his orders. But he did not. Batman's words came back to him at that moment. Even though he could discard the Atlantean's orders, seeing as he held no position of authority over him, he was sure that the Justice League would not appreciate it. So, to save himself a headache later on, he grudgingly fell in line as the Martian began their tour of the base. Though along the way, Kid Flash just had to point something out.

"You know you can chill out with the military getup, right? It's not like we're going to get attacked right out of the blue," he remarked, clearly referring to him being the only one in full costume and carrying weapons.

"You can't be sure of that. One can never know when disaster might strike. One must always be ready for anything at any time, whether the threat is from within or without," Krieg easily countered. It was a lesson he had learned long ago, always be ready for battle. Robin let out a small laugh at that.

"Jeez, where did you learn that? The Inquisition?" he asked jokingly.

"No. But while I have never served in the Imperial Inquisition, the work of the Ordo Hereticus branch has been a great source of inspiration to me," Krieg answered monotonously. A nervous laugh was what he received from Robin in response.

"You know I was joking, right?" Robin questioned.

"I wasn't," Krieg answered. That shut the boy up and left Krieg to his own thoughts. What the others discussed about during the rest of the tour, Krieg had absolutely no idea, for he was not even listening. He was in his own little world, just trying to endure it all until he could go back to his own base.

"My cookies!" the Martian suddenly exclaimed in panic as she flew out of the room they were in like a missile. While at first sharing confused looks among each other, the rest of the team eventually decided to follow and see what the fuss was about. Arriving in the kitchen, they found her in the midst of telekinetically removing a baking tray from the oven. From her outburst earlier, Krieg came to the conclusion that she had been trying to bake cookies. Obviously she had failed, since all there was on the tray were what looked like pieces of black coal.

"I was trying Granny Jones' recipe from episode 17 of… never mind," the Martian tried to explain. Krieg really did not care about that, he would not have eaten them even if they had been done right. Never trust a xeno's cuisine.

"I bet they would have tasted great. He doesn't seem to mind," Robin observed teasingly as Kid Flash was munching away at the burned cookies. Seeing the numerous looks he was receiving, he looked a bit flustered and slowed his eating down.

"I… have a serious metabolism," he explained sheepishly. Well, it did make sense in Krieg's mind. His body must have been burning way more energy than a normal human's to be able to move that fast, so it needed to resupply more often.

"I'll… make more?" Miss Martian offered nervously. 'Dear Emperor, please do not!' Krieg thought in alarm. He did not want her hazardous cooking skills placing his health in risk.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad said. Of course the abhuman would be fine with her botched attempt at cooking.

"Thanks, Aqualad," Miss Martian said gratefully.

"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur," so that meant that Krieg would not be calling him Kaldur, good to know.

"I'm Wally. See I already trust you with my secret I.D., unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name," once again, Krieg was reminded on why Batman was the leader of the Justice League. He appeared to be the only hero in existence with an actual brain. Better yet, he was really using it.

"Mine's no secret, it's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now," totally useless information in Krieg's opinion. What the stinking xeno called herself was none of his business. But he suddenly noticed that they were all, with the exception of Superboy, looking at him expectantly.

"What?" he asked gruffly.

"What's your name?" the newly dubbed Megan asked hopefully with a friendly smile on her face. It nauseated him.

"Krieg," he simply answered. Was she really so dense that she had already forgotten that? An exasperated sigh came from Kid Flash.

"What she meant to ask was what your real name is," he clarified, speaking like he was addressing a dense five year old. Krieg was sorely tempted to break his neck at that point.

"If you are referring to the identification marker I received when I was born, then it is 769355-637566-Keled," he answered, eliciting looks of confusion from all present, and even Superboy looked intrigued.

"That's not a name, that's a serial number," Aqualad pointed out, receiving a slight glance from Krieg, who was now leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms folded over his chest.

"Your point?" he asked coldly. That seemed to discourage the team from any further prodding, even though he could clearly see the curiosity burning in their eyes. But alas, the peace and quiet would not last, as Superboy had been in the midst of leaving the room when he suddenly spun back around with a furious look in his eyes.

"Get out of my head!" he screamed in anger while glaring at Megan. While at first confused on what he was talking about, Krieg soon learned of it as a foreign presence entered his mind.

"What's wrong, I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically," it was the voice of the Martian, but it was speaking inside his head. She was inside his head! Memories of when Martian Manhunter entered his mind resurfaced, and an uncontrollable anger came to the forefront. 'No! Not this! Not again! No one can be inside my head!' he all but screamed, making the Martian stagger in surprise. At that point, his instinct took control, and they were screaming the same thing. KILL THE INTRUDER!

Before anyone had a chance to react, Krieg rushed at the Martian like a mad bull, slammed her against the wall with all his strength and pinned her in place. He even drew a combat knife and pressed it against her throat. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to end her miserable life, his whole body trembled with rage and his eyes were aflame with maniacal hatred. Megan meanwhile was struck speechless, eyes wide in terror. At this close distance, she could not stop her mind from delving a bit deeper into Krieg's mind. She felt it all; the rage, the distrust, the hatred, the disgust, the urge to destroy. All of it directed at her. But it was more. Fleeting images floated past her, memories of horrors beyond her understanding, deaths beyond counting, wars on a scale beyond what she thought possible. Like Krieg, her whole body trembled, but hers was out of fright, of terror.

More than anything else in existence, she was absolutely terrified of the coldblooded killing machine standing before her now. She could have fought back, but she dared not move a muscle. She was paralyzed by what she had glimpsed inside his mind. Krieg had felt her presence, felt it go deeper than it had a right to. It only infuriated him even more, made him want to crack every bone in her body. But a part of him felt a sick and twisted sense of satisfaction that she was struck speechless by what she had seen. He slowly leaned in closer until their faces were mere inches apart.

"Scary in there, isn't it?" he asked slowly, voice nothing more than a whisper, yet filled with so much venom that it sent chills down the Martian's spine. The knife in his grip was pressed just a bit harder against her throat. A bit more pressure and it would cut through her skin, a little more after that would sever an artery. It would be so easy, just a bit more and…

"Krieg! Stop it right now!" Aqualad forcefully ordered, having finally snapped out of his shock. At first, Krieg did not move an inch from his position, nor did he let up. But Aqualad's firm order had managed to snap him out of his murder-induced haze. It was suddenly like he was only now aware of the cowering Martian in front of her and the knife in his hand. Anger still coursed through him, but at least he was able to think logically again. Killing the Martian would do nothing but brand him a criminal and send him to jail. Finally, he removed the knife from her throat and took a few steps back. Her legs were like jelly at this point, and with nothing supporting her, she collapsed to the floor, constantly staring frightfully at Krieg. Her innocent act nearly sent him over the edge again, and it was with great effort that he restrained himself from strangling her.

"Stay out of my head, xeno. Or what you saw in there will pale in comparison to what I will do to you," Krieg said, voice nothing more than a growl as he tightened his hands into fists. Without casting so much as a single look at any of his teammates, he stormed out of the kitchen and headed towards the zeta tubes. No one tried to stop him. He had to get away from here. Had to get away from her. He knew that should he stay, he would undoubtedly do something that would be impossible to undo. The moment he reached the zeta tubes, he punched the coordinates in and teleported back to Los Angeles.

But as he exited the phone booth, he felt his fist tremble with rage. He tried to stop it, but it would not yield. The anger refused to go away. It continued to fester under his skin. Processing and expressing emotions had never been something that Krieg knew how to do. He had been raised without emotions, they had been purged from his mind by the methodical work of the drillmasters back home. Emotions and feelings had never before bothered him so much, but ever since he arrived in this world, he had found these traits resurfacing after years of absence. It was like everyone he met tried to bring out his emotions, and it hurt Krieg. It hurt because he did not know what to do with them. So he had bottled them up, tried to get rid of them like in the past.

But that incident with the Martin just recently, it had been the last straw. All that pent up anger and frustration had exploded forward, made him loose control of himself. But even now, it had still not run its course, his anger was still boiling in his blood. And Krieg knew not how to deal with it. In the end, he chose to do the only thing he truly knew how to do perfectly. He fought. For hours he scoured the city in search of criminals to beat up.

He found a man trying to force himself on a young woman. Krieg crushed both his knees and his balls. A car thief in the midst of stealing another car got his head smashed through the car window before both his shoulders were dislocated. A little punk tried to steal a purse, but ended up with a broken nose and all of his fingers bent in the wrong direction. A young woman was holding a pair at gunpoint, demanding money. She ended up hanging upside down from a fire escape ladder with a broken arm and a face beaten beyond the point of recognition. A trio of men kidnapping children for ransom were found with their tongues cut off and their eyes gauged out. Some drunkard at a bar tried to cause a racket, and received a face-full of glass that cut his face up. A couple of drug dealers were dropped off at the hospital with broken ribs and internal bleeding from the beating they had received.

But despite all of these fights and countless more, Krieg still did not feel his anger subsiding after hours of patrolling. What he deduced from that was that he had not vented enough of his anger just yet, so he went out searching for more targets. Twenty minutes later, he found what he was looking for, as a family was cornered inside an alley with five armed men encircling them. They were saying something, but Krieg did not care about that, all he cared about was beating them up. So he descended on them like a vengeful spirit, coming down boot first on one of them before a roundhouse kick sent another flying into a wall head-first.

A third tried attacking him with a knife, but Krieg caught the arm, twisted it until he broke it at the wrist and then grabbed his head and slammed it straight into his knee. The fourth grabbed a crowbar and came at him from behind. Krieg dodged under the strike and delivered a sidekick to his knee, cracking it before finishing him off with an uppercut. The fifth one had a revolver aimed at him, about to squeeze the trigger. But Krieg was faster with his shotgun and placed four shots in his chest before closing the distance and bashing him on the head with the shotgun. That left all the enemies neutralized, and the civilians were safe.

"You should head home," he advised them before striding away. He still felt the urge to kill something. But since he was prohibited from killing, he would have to settle with breaking. He was about to climb up a ladder and get up on the roof when he felt someone standing behind him. Slowly turning around, he found the child of the family, a six year old girl, standing in front of him. He looked down at her expectantly as she nervously looked anywhere but up. But then she fully turned her face to him with a bright smile in place.

"Thank you, mister," she said before she walked up and hugged him. Hugged him! Krieg found himself at a loss of words. No one had ever hugged him. Heck, no one had ever shoved him any form of affection. And now here he stood, with a little girl hugging him like he was a frigging teddy bear. It unnerved him a bit, because he had never dealt with this before. What should he do? Return the hug? Gently tell her to let go? Push her away? In the end, his mind sort of froze up on the matter and he just stood as still as a statue until the girl let go and ran back to her parents, waiting a short distance away.

But even when the family had left, Krieg still remained where he was. His anger had been evaporated in that instant. All that was left was confusion. Why did the girl do that? He could understand the "thank you", he had after all saved them, but he had seen the look in her eyes when she hugged him. It was admiration. The child suddenly looked up to him, even though this was the first time they had met. He was not going to fool himself, he knew that he was a bad role model for children. His methods and way of life was not meant for the faint of heart. He did the dirty and often times ungrateful work, so that others could live in peace. He was a boy with no future beyond the next battlefield. That was hardly what one wanted children to strive for.

Yet when he saw the child hugging him, felt the joy she had over being alive, saw her admiration for him, something stirred in his heart. It was foreign, and completely unknown to him. It was almost like a warmth, soothingly spreading through his chest. Nothing like the burning inferno of hatred he had felt earlier. But this new feeling made him uneasy, made him actually miss anger. Anger could be converted into strength, anger was something that drove one on when all else failed. But above all else, anger was familiar to him, it was something he knew and could identify. What he felt now, it was completely alien to him, and he did not like it.

Back in Happy Harbor, the rest of the team was taking a flying trip in Megan's bioship. But the mood was anything but bright. They were still reeling from Krieg's sudden outburst. Even Superboy, who himself had been angered by the telepathic contact, felt a twinge of sympathy for Megan. For those who had known Krieg longest, this sudden explosion of anger from him was such a far cry from the calm and emotionless soldier they had gotten to know. Megan herself was probably the one most torn up by what had transpired. Not only because of the fear she had endured when Krieg seemed close to killing her, but also because of sympathy for Krieg.

It may sound strange to feel sorry for the very same person who threatened to kill you, but Megan had always been a kind soul. And the horrors she had witnessed in his mind, it tore her up. How could someone so young endure so much suffering? She had not grasped the full picture, but she had seen enough to last her a lifetime.

"Megan? Are you alright?" Kaldur suddenly asked in concern, snapping her out of her thoughts. She found that the whole team was in fact looking at her in concern. She must have spaced out at some point.

"I… I don't know. Krieg, he…." She began, but trailed off uncertainly. She truly did not know what to say.

"Don't be scared of him. Sure, he can be a real asshole most of the time, but he has never killed anyone and would never truly hurt you," Wally assured her. But to be honest, he was not so sure whether what he was saying was true or not. That, however, was not something that Megan needed to know.

"No, it's not like that. When I spoke to him telepathically, I heard him screaming 'not again' at me. I think what I did made him remember something similar. And when he… he attacked me, I accidentally went deeper into his mind. And what I saw…" yet again the girl railed off, voice trembling at the end. Could she really tell them what she saw? By now, they were all paying close attention to her words.

"Yes, you saw what?" Aqualad gently prodded. They were all curious to hear, because this might shed some light on Krieg's dark past. Megan bit her lower lip as she contemplated what to say. In the end, she settled for the truth.

"I… I saw death," she finally managed to force out, "I saw so much death, so much pain. I saw glimpses of his past, and they were nothing but brutal training and mental torture. By God, I don't even know how he can still keep going after what he has seen," the confession left the whole team in a state of disbelief. Sure, they had always known that their sixth member must have had a terrible childhood to turn out the way he was, but this was beyond what they could have ever expected.

"Should we tell the League?" Robin asked. It was a fair question. Krieg had after all attacked a teammate. But Aqualad surprisingly shook his head.

"Not yet at least. I feel we need to talk with Krieg first, set some things straight. Then, if we still feel the need, we tell the League," he offered. No objections were raised to the idea.

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian, an emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate, covertly. I'm sending you the coordinates," that sudden report made everyone shift their attention away from Krieg and onto this new problem. Krieg could wait, right now they had a villain to beat up.

Perched up on a rooftop, Krieg surveyed the bustling city from behind his gasmask. But his mind was elsewhere at that moment. What he had felt earlier, it still puzzled him. He could not describe it, nor truly identify it. That made him uneasy, for it made the feeling an unknown variable, and Krieg loathed those. Unknown variables could easily ruin a perfect mission. Why did this have to happen to him? Why could his life not stay as simple as it used to, with no abhumans, no Kryptonians, no Martians…

Martian! He had nearly forgotten the Martian. That deceitful little wench that invaded his mind. Just thinking about her brought the anger from before back, but it was weaker this time around. It was on the manageable levels he had been accustomed to all his life. This all troubled him. With each passing day in this world, Krieg found the comfortable barriers of his mind chipping away. It almost felt like he was losing himself, becoming something else than what he was. It may be overreaction on his part, but he could not deny that he had done things he would have never even dreamt of doing in the Death Korps. Slowly, piece by piece, he was bending and compromising with his inner self. The fact that he had let the Martian live was testimony to his changes. A few months earlier, and he would have slit her throat without a second thought.

Was it heresy on his part? Was he slowly discarding the ideals of the Imperium and embracing these new blasphemous ones? Maybe he truly was, but what choice did he have? This was not his Imperium, this was a foreign world with its own rules and beliefs. He had to adapt if he hoped to survive, it was that simple. Or was it? These all sounded like excuses used by traitors to justify their actions. He was just seeking an excuse to hide behind. No! That was not true! He was a loyal servant of the Emperor, all he had ever done was in his name. Even now, stranded in this foreign world, he was still fighting for the cause upon which the Imperium was founded upon. Yet how could he, a lowly human, know whether what he was fighting for truly was the right path? What manner of guarantee existed that he was in fact a loyal servant, and not a delusional traitor?

"Hello?" someone suddenly asked from behind Krieg, causing him to spin around and aim his shotgun at the intruder. He was met with a young girl, somewhere around his age, dressed in regular civilian clothes. Shoulder length hair as black as midnight framed her pale face as she observed him in curiosity with brown eyes, hands raised in a surrendering gesture.

"Peace. I'm not here to fight you," she said monotonously, sounding strangely calm despite having a weapon aimed at her. Deeming the girl to be no threat to him, Krieg lowered his shotgun while turning his eyes back to the city.

"Might I advise against sneaking up on someone who is armed? Most people do not have as much restraint as I have," he remarked coldly, hoping she would go away and leave him alone. She did not, and even walked up to stand next to him. For a while, neither said anything, just stood there together. That fact alone made Krieg suspicious of her motives, but he was also a bit relieved that she was not like the usual chatterboxes he had to endure.

"So you're the vigilante who's been cleaning up the streets," she eventually said flatly, sounding neither awed nor unnerved by being near him. A refreshing change in his opinion.

"I was not aware that people had started to notice my efforts," he casually remarked. And honestly, he had hoped it would have remained that way. Receiving attention was never something Krieg appreciated.

"When the hospitals start filling up with crooks, and those still on the loose barely dares to step outside their doors, someone is bound to notice," the girl stated. Good point there. It really had been a bit naïve of him thinking that his efforts would pass by unnoticed with the number of criminals he left crippled all over town. But there was one aspect of her sentence that really caught his attention.

"You don't sound like you mind," he observed. Honestly, he was not much for talking, but he was curious to know. And besides, a short conversation would not hurt. The girl just shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm a pacifist by nature, I prefer not to fight if I have a choice. But I can't really condemn your actions. Sure, some might call your methods too brutal, but they're actually working. Crime rates have dropped record fast, and it's actually becoming safer to walk around at night these days," she answered. Krieg had to admit, he was astonished by her. Everyone he had met so far had always complained about his methods, always lecturing him about how overly brutal they are. She must have been the first to acknowledge that they were actually doing some good.

"But what is it that troubles you?" she suddenly asked, catching him off guard.

"Excuse me?" was the only reply he could come up with.

"Just heard on the news that criminals with almost life-threatening injuries have been found all over town. Many speculate that it's your doing," she elaborated. Krieg narrowed his eyes behind his gasmask.

"And what makes you think that I would hurt them so much just because something troubled me? What if they truly deserved all they got, and more?" he questioned coldly. Here, she looked him square in the eyes.

"Then there is the fact that you've been standing up here for over half an hour, doing nothing but looking across the city. And don't give me that 'I'm just keeping watch' bullshit," she added, not backing down in the slightest. She had courage, Krieg had to give her that much, but she was stepping into dangerous territory here. Some part of him began wondering why he did not just walk away and never look back.

"And what makes you think that I will say anything?" he challenged her. Truth be told, he had no answer as to why he stayed and endured this. Like his rescue of Robin, he chose to remain on a whim.

"If you want to keep it to yourself, that's your choice. I won't force you to tell me anything. I just thought it might help to talk about it," she answered, actually managing to draw out a snort from Krieg.

"Talk about it?" he questioned dubiously. The girl was completely unaffected by his sudden hostility.

"Keeping things bottled up won't do you any good, it will only end up hurting you. And to just use fighting as an outlet will prove to be equally destructive, for then you will in the end only know how to solve things with violence. Talking about it may seem useless, but it truly helps," she calmly explained, and Krieg actually found himself listening. The notion sounded silly to him. How would talking solve anything? Did the Emperor stop Horus by talking to him? Did talking stop the aristocracy of Krieg from rebelling against the Imperium all those centuries ago? Talking rarely solved anything in Krieg's opinion, he believed more in actions.

"I was recently placed on a team, and it did not work out," but despite his reasoning, Krieg still began vaguely telling this stranger of his troubles. It was only to sate her curiosity and make her leave him alone, that was what he told himself, "One of them, someone I do not like in the slightest, did something unpleasant, and I reacted with violence. After that, I felt so much anger that I had no idea how to deal with it," naturally, he was keeping details to a minimum here. He was not going to tell here every single bit just like that.

"And so you took to the streets and beat the shit out of any criminal you could find to vent your anger," the girl deduced. But there was no accusation or disappointment in her tone. It sounded just like she had simply stated a fact and nothing more.

"But there's more to it, isn't it?" she asked after a moment's pause. Krieg slowly nodded his head.

"I do not want to be a part of this team. I do not like anyone of its members, and I prefer working by myself," he answered truthfully. And for some strange reason, it almost felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders by his confession. 'Perhaps this is why so many people seek out members of the Ecclesiarchy to confess their sins,' Krieg mused to himself.

"Then why are you a part of it? Why don't you just resign?" the girl asked. It was a question Krieg himself had asked. Why did he stay? Why did he not simply break free and go his own way? The answer was pretty simple.

"Because resigning will leave me with nothing," he answered. He was no fool, he knew that as a lone boy, he could never hope to make a significant difference to humanity. Despite how much he despised them, the Justice League was the sole force in existence with both the will and the power to defend all of humanity. If Krieg went out on his own, he would be all on his own, with no resources, no equipment, no back-up and no chance. Staying with the Justice League was his only option, because there was no one else willing to stand up to humanity.

"So you're basically saying that you've got no choice in the matter," the girl stated, mostly to receive confirmation that she had guessed right.

"Yes," that was the simple answer. He did not feel like going into details.

"Then you simply wait until a choice comes along," she simply answered, confusing Krieg with how simple she made it sound.

"Just because you've got no choice now, doesn't mean that it will stay the same way forever. Sooner or later, you will be given a choice, and then it's up to you to make the one you feel is best. But until then, you'll just have to tough it out," she elaborated. As Krieg thought of her words, he found himself agreeing to them. He would endure it all, like he had always done, and wait for a better chance. He did not know what it was, he did not know when it would come, but he knew that he would wait for it.

"Well, I have to go now, but it was nice talking to you," the girl announced as she turned and walked towards the stairs.

"Wait," Krieg found himself calling after her just as she was about to enter the apartment complex, "What is your name?" never before had he bothered to learn someone's name, but this time, he really wanted to know for some reason. The girl gave him a small smile in return.

"Name's Rachel Roth. Yours?" she inquired in turn.

"Krieg," he answered.

"Well, Krieg, if you ever need to talk to talk to someone again, my door is open for you," she said as her parting words before leaving. It had truly been a strange day for Krieg. But for some reason, he did not feel as troubled as he used to.

"Recognized. Krieg, B04," stepping once again into the Cave, Krieg silently wondered what the team's reaction would be. Most likely they would throw him off the team for good, which actually suited him just fine. Barely had he stepped out of the zeta tubes when he found himself surrounded by the team, their faces unreadable.

"Can I help you?" he asked with an unconcerned tone.

"Krieg, we need to talk about what happened earlier," Kaldur stated. Of course they needed to talk about that of all things. Krieg had easily expected that.

"What is there to talk about? She entered my mind without permission, and I reacted accordingly," he countered. Just because he had decided he needed to endure being on this team, did not mean that he was going to be any more open and hospitable to them than he already was. Merely talking to the Martian would be stretching it for Krieg.

"But why did you react so violently? Has it happened before?" Megan suddenly asked. To Krieg, it was obvious that they would not back down on the matter, so he supposed he could throw them a bone.

"Robin, remember when we first met?" he asked as he turned his head towards the Boy Wonder.

"Well, yeah?" he answered hesitantly, unsure on what it had to do with anything.

"After our little fight then, I was brought to the League's base for interrogation. After conventional means of extracting information had failed, your uncle," here he turned his eyes back to the Martian, "forcefully entered my mind and went through all of my memories like I was a computer file," looks of disbelief spread across all of their faces, and Megan even looked… sympathetic?

"I'm… I'm sorry. I must have brought up some bad memories from what I did. I should never have done it," she tried to apologize. She was wasting her breath on Krieg. He did not care whether she was sorry, angry or guilty. Just as long as she stayed out of his way, and his mind.

"Yes, well I was not supposed to attack a teammate, so we are even on that account," he responded as he strode right past her, hoping that they were done with the discussion.

"Krieg," Megan suddenly called after him hesitantly, so he stopped in his tracks but did not turn around to face her as she continued speaking, "I accidentally saw a few of your memories," that revelation caused his body to tense up like a piano wire. The xeno better not start going into details on whatever she saw.

"What I saw in there was horrible. Krieg, just what was it I saw?" she asked of him, the rest of the team eagerly listening on. She should have known better than to ask such a question. Those memories were his and his alone. They were not something meant to be displayed for everyone to see.

"Things of the past, that hold no relevance in the present," Krieg answered coldly before striding away, leaving his team behind to mull over his words.

And here is yet another chapter! Never knew that I could write so damn fast. Anyway, I tried to bring some emotional developments into the story, and I would like to know if I did a good job. Was it a good pace, or did I rush it too much? Was it written well, or did I leave you guys half asleep? Please leave a comment and let me know.